Good days

Yesterday was a good day. I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but it really is extraordinary how when I am depressed I honestly believe that I will never feel better and never have done, and once I am better I begin to believe that I will now be better for ever, and even that the depressed time wasn’t really that bad. How we deceive ourselves…

The good things about yesterday were a) a morning reading a crime novel set in Vienna before the First World War, in which the amateur detective is a young Jewish psychiatrist who does psychological profiling before its time; b) a really lovely service in the afternoon in which my son was interviewed, along with his best friend, about their experience of school and what they would like us to pray about as they start a new school year (and I also got to speak German to some visitors); c) an impromptu party in the lovely huge garden of the Mennonite Centre, with margaritas, nibbles and old friends visiting from Canada.

Today was good too: I had to go to Bristol for the day to be part of a group brainstorming about a possible book on gender issues. The train journey was very relaxed (I’d booked a seat) and I managed to read the whole of the Guardian Weekly for a change, as well as enjoying the scenery outside; and then the discussion was very stimulating and encouraging.

In my travels I saw a notice in a rail siding that said, among other things, ‘Nose End Wash’. I found myself speculating on what kind of village or town Nose End Wash might be, and who would live there. It would be somewhere in the Fens, I think…

4 thoughts on “Good days”

We have short memories indeed. I was just commenting to someone yesterday that I forget the nightmare translations quickly and can’t believe anything will ever be that bad again. Somehow I find myself accepting new dodgy-looking assignments with misplaced optimism…”can it really be so bad? Naaaahhh.” Somehow I never seem to recognise the signs.

If you mean the book I was reading rather than the one I was brainstorming for, it’s Vienna Blood by Frank Tallis. Part of a series called The Liebermann Papers starring Dr Max Liebermann. Lots of lovely references to parts of Vienna. Also rather a lot of gore.